Located about 50 miles north of the Saskatchewan-North Dakota border, Weyburn has produced a handful of NHL players. But Pouliot is arguably the most touted prospect to come out of Weyburn since enforcer David "Tiger" Williams -- perhaps best remembered for saying during a playoff series, "Them Penguins is done like dinner" -- was drafted by Toronto in the second round in 1974.

The Edmonton Oilers have the first pick in the two-day draft and are expected to select Russian right wing Nail Yakupov of the Ontario Hockey League's Sarnia Sting, while the Columbus Blue Jackets will likely take defenseman Ryan Murray of the WHL's Everett Silvertips with the No. 2 pick.

A total of 30 players will be selected in Friday's opening round, which is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. The remaining six rounds of the draft are Saturday, beginning at 7 a.m.

"Central Scouting does its rankings and puts you where they think you could go, but everything could change on draft day," Pouliot said. "I'll be glad to be picked wherever I am. If it's second round, third round, fifth round, it doesn't really make a difference to me. I'm just going to be happy to get picked by a NHL team."

Portland general manager and head coach Mike Johnston, in Pittsburg for the draft, said he expects Pouliot to get selected between the 10th and 20th pick.

"Most teams here don't think he's going to go beyond 20," Johnston said. "Teams that are picking beyond 20 would be really, really excited to see him fall into that position."

Last season, Pouliot was one of five Portland players to appear in all 72 regular-season games and he finished fifth in team scoring with 11 goals and 48 assists. He added three goals and 14 assists in 22 playoff games and played a key role in helping the Winterhawks to a second consecutive appearance in the WHL Finals.

"Going that far two years in a row isn't something that a lot of teams can do," said Pouliot, who grew up cheering for the NHL's Colorado Avalanche. "I was fortunate to come to Portland and to work with some excellent players in (former first-round picks) Sven Bartschi, Joe Morrow, Ryan Johansen, and Nino Niederreiter, guys that I learned from just by watching them in practice."

Portland forwards Taylor Leier and Brendan Leipsic helped their draft stock with strong playoff performances and are likely to get selected at some point Saturday.

Winterhawks defenseman Josh Hanson, ranked 102nd among North American skaters by Central Scouting, also is eligible for the draft, along with right wing Joey Baker, defenseman Cody Castro, and centers Taylor Peters and Jason Trott.

The Winterhawks matched a franchise record two years ago when eight players were drafted, including Johansen going fourth overall to Columbus and Niederreiter going fifth to the New York Islanders. Last year, four Portland players heard their names called, with Calgary selecting Bartschi with the 13th pick and Pittsburgh drafting Morrow with the 23rd pick.

"Every NHL team wants guys who know how to win and come from winning organizations," Johnston said. "Our players have had a lot of playoff experience and winning two conference championships certainly helps.

"Every team when they interview these young guys, they're going to ask them about winning. Our guys here in two years, they've had 99 (regular-season) wins here in two years and ... these guys are learning to win."

Notes: Hawks defenseman Troy Rutkowski, a fifth-round pick by Colorado in the 2010 NHL draft, will re-enter this year's draft pool after failing to sign with the Avalanche. In his fourth season with Portland, Rutkowski scored a career-high 13 goals with 32 assists and 37 penalty minutes in 72 regular-season games, and then had a goal, nine assists and 10 penalty minutes in the playoffs. "We've had a lot of calls on Troy," Johnston said. "He could be redrafted. There are a lot of teams asking questions about him. And with the older players like Peters and Rutkowski, if they're not drafted, there will be lot of teams recruiting them to come to their training camps." ... While in Pittsburgh, Johnston has been talking to NHL teams about several European draft prospects who may also be available in next week's Canadian Hockey League Import draft. "We're trying to get some concrete information on who's coming over and what's going on with that side of things," said Johnston, whose team has the 26th and 57th picks in Wednesday's draft. "We have a long list and have been working on this for a couple months. It's a lot of legwork to make a pick or two, but with us they can be very important picks." ... In their 35-year history, the Winterhawks have had a total of 119 players drafted by the NHL, including 25 first-round picks and 25 second-round picks. In the past 20 years, Portland has had only two defensemen selected in the first round -- Braydon Coburn going eighth overall to Atlanta in 2003 and Morrow last year.